aimee (aimeecanread)'s Reviews > The Fill-In Boyfriend

05/21/2015
The more I think about this book, the less I seem to like it. I'm completely bummed about that since The Fill-in Boyfriend was one of my most anticipated releases of 2015. You can't see me, but I'm pouting right now.

The first issue I had with the book came in just within the first couple of pages. I know that we're thrust into the book knowing that Fake Bradley will agree to the terms of being Gia's fake boyfriend, but the way it was executed in the actual book made no sense. It was completely random and unconvincing.

And then, ta-da! The heroine is suddenly obsessed with seeing this boy again. Of course she is. She thinks about him 24/7, even going as far as to stalk his little sister. She even admits that what she's doing is stalking, and she's okay with it.

Stalking aside, Gia's character was just generally petty and shallow. I could not connect to her at all. I know the feeling of a certain friend wanting to get you out of the picture. Really, I do. But please, handle your problems in a mature manner. I'm fifteen, and I talk things out with my friends if I feel like they're doing something wrong. I don't keep it a secret and lie to them.

There are other fish in the sea. It's a big ocean. Sometimes we need to catch and release a few before we find the keeper. Just keep swimming.

Other than that one piece of brilliant advice, Gia's parents are also mostly just... there. They don't have a strong, supportive presence. In fact, they were just like cardboard cut outs. They had no personality and were basically useless to the entire story, which is a shame since Kasie's other books have amazing family dynamics.

Speaking of cardboard cut-outs, we also have Gia's friends. They did have more prominent roles in the story compared to Gia's parents, but their personalities were incredibly stereotypical. No one really stood out to me.

Let's talk about Fake Bradley and the romance. With a heavy heart, I'm saying that The Fill-in Boyfriend did not give me any feels. At all. There was a lot of drama between these two by the last half of the book, and despite being a fan of angst, I just flinched instead. No flutters. No gigglesnorts. No swoons.

The only reason I'm not giving this book one star is because I appreciated how Gia's problems with her friends were realistic. Like I said, I've experienced them myself. I just wished that they'd been handled better, and more maturely. And also because I really liked Bec, Fake Bradley's sister, who was the hard-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside kind of girl.

Overall, this book had potential to be one of those extremely relatable and realistic books, but it unfortunately fell flat on both of those aspects.

10/26/2013

Kasie West can't write a bad book, folks. Look at all the feels she gave us:

The Distance Between Us made us:


Pivot Point made us think:


Split Second gave us:


On the Fence basically made us:


Just give me this book, okay!?